Gemstone: Colorful and hard mineral with a very nice shiny luster. Ore: An economically useful or a rock that contains a metal. Prospector: Anyone who searches for ores. Strip Mines: Earthmoving equipment scrapes away the soil to show the ore. Open Pit Mines: Miners dig a tremendous pit with giant earthmoving equipment. Shaft Mines: Miners dig shaft mines for the ore that occurs in veins. Smelting: An ore gets melted to separate the useful metal from other elements it contains. Alloy: A solid mixture of two or more elements.
Outline
The Uses of Minerals
Minerals are the source of metals, gemstones, and other materials used to make many products.
Gemstones
Metals
Other Useful Minerals
Ores
Prospecting
Mining
There are three types of mines: strip mines, shaft mines, and open pit mines
Strip Mines
Shaft Mines
Open Pit Mines
Smelting
After miners remove ore from a mine, smelting is necessary to remove the metal from the ore.
Table of Contents
4.3 Mineral Resources
Vocabulary
Gemstone: Colorful and hard mineral with a very nice shiny luster.
Ore: An economically useful or a rock that contains a metal.
Prospector: Anyone who searches for ores.
Strip Mines: Earthmoving equipment scrapes away the soil to show the ore.
Open Pit Mines: Miners dig a tremendous pit with giant earthmoving equipment.
Shaft Mines: Miners dig shaft mines for the ore that occurs in veins.
Smelting: An ore gets melted to separate the useful metal from other elements it contains.
Alloy: A solid mixture of two or more elements.
Outline
The Uses of Minerals
Ores
Prospecting
Mining
Smelting
Diagram